Progressive Media Group, A Web Solution LLC
Complaint 109671 Details

Richard Piche
[Personal Information Removed]

VC Merchant Funding is where the scam originated. I received a phone call from a lead generator stating a agent had just retired in my area and if I was still interested in making some additional money to subsidize my income. I asked how they got my number and whether they knew they called into Canada. My name was received from a website I had visited looking into generating a some extra money. I am due to retire in August and well not quite sure if I'm ready for it. I know for every "one" retiring there's another one born....so the saying goes. I do not consider myself a fool but in this instant I can't help but admit I've been had.
I was recruited on 12/14/2011 as agent affiliate #19868. The charge was $495.00 to cover licensing and a start up kit. I still have no credentials other than a visa bill to show for it. The job entailed prospecting business owners interested in saving on debit and credit card processing fees. Visa, Discovery, Mastercard and American Express. Lower processing fees, conditional that they agree to use VC processing terminals. Also, so I was subsequently told, loans in the range of 50k to 1.5 million dollars are made available to qualifying businesses.
I was to receive coaching and a web site with a backroom office would be created for me to maintain progress reports. A starter kit was to be sent priority post. After repeated phone calls and apologies and bewilderment on the part of the staff at VC, and no tracking number to trace the parcel, a booklet was mailed post marked by Customs Service on 2/29/2012 out of Cheyenne, WY. (6 weeks) . The parcel I anxiously awaited turned out to be a booklet in a priority post cardboard sleeve. Included was requisition form for purchasing business cards at $95.00 per 250. Not much for $495.00. I was expecting quite the coaching sessions. I have yet to receive any, and to upset to accept any. Contact numbers for VC. 1-888-264-5757 customer support 866-408-2323 [email protected]

Received a phone call from a Mr Rick Ross (888-264-5757 same number different city)
FAX: 877-438-2401) Said he was an affiliate of VC Merchant Funding with.
Progressive Media Group
3039 W Peoria Ave Suite 102
Phoenix AZ 85029.

Mr Ross said he was a financial adviser with 20 years experience, and that he had a different angle on a business venture that targeted merchants who had been denied loans from banks. He said President Obama legislated banks to render any and all loan refusals to smaller lending institutions. I was persuaded to max out my credit cards to purchase the reject loan applications or files. I was told by Mr Ross that Progressive Media Group is charged a modest sum by the banks for the files, presumably to recuperating some of their processing expenditures. Mr Ross had me promise to pay off the credit cards as soon as the commission cheques started arriving. The estimated 5 - 7 days to process the files seemed a reasonable time frame. The sales force on the floor would begin calling as soon as the transactions were completed. Between 22/2/2012 and 2/28/2012 I received multiple calls for as much as I could find in credit. He convinced me that the commission would not take long to arrive and the kicker was the residual income generated from the ongoing processing fees from the credit card terminals.
I have made many calls since February 28, 2012. Here is where my “campaign” sits. A grand total of 3550 files have been ear marked for processing. Remember between 5 - 7 business days. Well, calls have been initiated on 104 business owners commencing on March 27, 2012. A month after having money in hand to acquire the files. Business owners who have been denied loans from larger lending institutions sometime in early February. A log was populated in the back office I presume as a sign of good faith; see for yourself http:/www.agent.vcmerchantfunding.com/index.html
login – user name 19868 – password – richard – press enter – choose dashboard on menu top right – then commission status – for the list of businesses who I've been told have been contacted. The files were not logged on my account (back office) until I enquired about the lack of progress. Then they appeared , and not one had any follow up notes, or call back dates. I was told it was too time consuming and the time was best spent making more calls. On the next call the excuse was, things always slow down around tax time in April?? I don't believe out of 104 business owners who were seeking loans in February have not met the requirements to secure a loan from VC Merchant Funding. Of late the only people I could speak to are admin assistants who answer support lines for the agents of VC. These ladies have yet to answer any of my concerns claiming it's not their department, occasionally offering to patch me into voice mail, or a campaign manager's telephone number, one of the numbers had been disconnected. (866-938-2830) Most time no one answers and I leave messages.
The campaign managers assigned to me are Tom Wilson and (Nicole ? At 1-866-938-2830)
Last communication was on 3/4/2012 I was informed on my answering machine that another 44 files were added to my back office list. In two months time only 144 file were being processed. My campaign has 3550 files. How long would a business owner wait if at all before looking elsewhere for a loan. Five to seven days to contact someone who was in the market for a loan. Getting a call from out of the blue from someone interested in lending you money after being denied would have seemed like a God sent. I realize now that the files were not at the ready and that there was no need to max out my credit cards. Increments of a couple hundred files would have sufficed. I was led to believe that all the files were in waiting for an investor such as myself to pursue them so they could be processed immediately.
The first wave of credit card statements have arrive with the second soon to be requiring payment. This tsunami threatens to take away my home. Interest rates are 19.5%. I am being charged over $1200.00 per month in interest. I was not prepared to take on such a large debt. I am just making the minimum payments. Remember that message left on the answering machine. My wife upon hearing it learned about my foolish behaviour and is seriously considering a separation because she can no longer trust me. Thirty years of marriage and a daughter who's getting married on June 9, 2012. It's all true. What was I thinking. I'll even tell you of a failed suicide attempt that led to my being committed into a psych ward at the hospital for a ten days.
I have repeatedly tried to speak with Mr Ross since our first and last conversation on 2/28/2012. He has been on vacation for two weeks, in meetings, out of the office, he does not return my calls despite my requests. These are the reason I fear I've been scammed. How I got your contact I don't remember. I have not known who to turn to for support because I am in Canada and they are in Pheonix, and Cheyenne. I apologies but I cannot go on any longer here. Please understand.

I remain,
Richard Piche